Shoelace locking apparatus

ABSTRACT

A shoelace locking apparatus comprises a body attachable to both ends of a shoelace, a locking lever, and a pin. The body defines a retaining passage therein for receiving the first end of the shoelace and a locking passage therein for receiving a second end of the shoelace. A knot tied in the first end of the shoelace prevents it from passing back through the retaining passage. Within a recess in communication with the locking passage a rotating locking lever is mounted on the pin. By pulling the second end of the shoelace through the locking passage past the locking lever and rotating the locking lever into the locking position, the second end of the shoelace may be immobilized relative to the body. Tension in the shoelace serves to keep the lever in the locked position.

BACKGROUND

It is well known that shoelaces require tying and untying the two endsthereof at every use, and many times the shoelaces come undoneprematurely which, of course, is not desired. Also, tying of shoelacesis difficult or impossible for some wearers. For example, young childrenmay not yet have learned how to tie shoelaces or do so less thanperfectly such that the shoelaces come undone frequently. Untiedshoelaces also make it easier for children to remove their shoes whentheir parents do not want them to do so. Also, persons with problemswith manual dexterity, such as multiple sclerosis sufferers, may findtying shoelaces to be difficult if not impossible. The present inventionsolves this problem by providing a quickly locked and released shoelacefastening device which young children can operate with less knowledgethan is necessary for tying shoelaces and which other persons who wouldhave difficulty tying shoelaces can easily operate.

In addition to providing assistance to persons who have trouble tyingshoelaces, the present invention also provides fully capable personswith a quicker means of connection with a minimal likelihood ofaccidental uncoupling.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is a device for fastening and maintaining afastened condition of a shoelace on a shoe. In one aspect, the inventiveconcepts disclosed herein are directed to a shoelace locking apparatuscomprising a body and a locking lever. The body has a first passage forreceiving one portion of a shoelace, a second passage for receivinganother portion of a shoelace, and a recess in communication with thesecond passage. The locking has at least one bearing surface and ispositioned in the recess of the body and attached to the body in a waythat the locking lever is movable between an open position wherein thebearing surface of the locking lever is retracted from the secondpassage and a locked position wherein the bearing surface is disposed inthe second passage so as to compress the portion of the shoelacedisposed through the second passage between the bearing surface of thelocking lever and the body and thereby immobilize the portion of theshoelace disposed through the second passage.

The invention may be described as an apparatus for connecting ends of ashoelace comprising a body adapted for attachment to a first end of theshoelace and a locking lever that captures the second end of theshoelace. The body defines a locking passage therein incorporating arecess for a locking lever and adapted for receiving a second end of theshoelace. The body further preferably defines a retaining passagetherein adapted for receiving the first end of the shoelacetherethrough. A knot tied in the first end of the shoelace is preventedfrom passing through the retaining opening because of the size thereof.

In one embodiment, the locking lever rotates about a pivot pin mountedto the body and is in communication with the locking passage via arecess. The location of the pivot hole in the locking lever is offset sothat when the lever is in the open position the locking lever presents aminimal obstruction to the locking passage, allowing the second end ofthe shoelace to move within the locking passage. When the locking leveris rotated to the locking position the bearing surface of the lockinglever moves into the locking passage and compresses the second end ofthe shoelace against the lower surface of the locking passage. Thebearing surface of the locking lever incorporates a texture orprotrusion that presses against or into the shoelace material so as tobetter resist motion of the shoelace relative to the bearing surface.The tension associated with a tightened shoelace causes a moment on thelever which helps maintain it in the locked position.

In another embodiment, a locking lever is incorporated into bothpassages so that no knot is necessary in either end of the shoelace.

In yet another embodiment, the locking lever is slotted and slides onthe pivot pin within the recess. When the lever is in the open positionit presents a minimal obstruction to the locking passage allowing thesecond end of the shoelace to move within the locking passage. When thelocking lever is slid into the locking position the bearing surface ofthe locking lever moves into the locking passage and compresses thesecond end of the shoelace against the lower surface of the lockingpassage. The bearing surface of the locking lever may include a textureor protrusion that presses against or into the shoelace material so asto better resist motion of the shoelace relative to the bearing surface.The tension associated with a tightened shoelace causes a force on thesliding lever which helps maintain it in the locked position. Matingprotrusions and depressions in the lever and body may act as a detent tofurther assist in maintaining the wedge in the locked position.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a front elevational view of a shoe locking apparatus.

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the shoe locking apparatus of FIG.1.

FIG. 3 is a cross section taken along line 3-3 in FIG. 2 showing theshoe locking apparatus in an open position.

FIG. 4 is a cross section taken along line 3-3 in FIG. 2 showing theshoe locking apparatus in a locked position.

FIG. 5 is a cross sectional view of a second embodiment of a shoelocking apparatus shown in a locked position.

FIG. 6 is a cross sectional view of a third embodiment of a shoe lockingapparatus shown in an open position.

FIG. 7 is a cross sectional view of a third embodiment of a shoe lockingapparatus shown in a locked position.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

In the following detailed description of embodiments of the inventiveconcepts, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide amore thorough understanding of the inventive concepts. However, it willbe apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that the inventiveconcepts disclosed and claimed herein may be practiced without thesespecific details. In other instances, well-known features have not beendescribed in detail to avoid unnecessarily complicating the instantdisclosure.

As used herein, the terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “includes,”“including,” “has,” “having” or any other variation thereof, areintended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion. For example, a process,method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements or stepsis not necessarily limited to only those elements or steps and mayinclude other elements, steps, or features not expressly listed orinherently present therein.

Unless expressly stated to the contrary, “or” refers to an inclusive orand not to an exclusive or. For example, a condition A or B is satisfiedby anyone of the following: A is true (or present) and B is false (ornot present), A is false (or not present) and B is true (or present),and both A and B are true (or present).

In addition, use of the “a” or “an” are employed to describe elementsand components of the embodiments herein. This is done merely forconvenience and to give a general sense of the inventive concepts. Thisdescription should be read to include one or at least one and thesingular also includes the plural unless it is obvious that it is meantotherwise.

Throughout this disclosure and the claims, the terms “about,”“approximately,” and “substantially” are intended to signify that theitem being qualified is not limited to the exact value specified, butincludes some slight variations or deviations therefrom, caused bymeasuring error, manufacturing tolerances, stress exerted on variousparts, wear and tear, or combinations thereof, for example.

The use of the term “at least one” will be understood to include one aswell as any quantity more than one, including but not limited to eachof, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 40, 50, 100, and all integerstherebetween. The term “at least one” may extend up to 100 or 1000 ormore, depending on the term to which it is attached; in addition, thequantities of 100/1000 are not to be considered limiting, as higherlimits may also produce satisfactory results. Singular terms shallinclude pluralities and plural terms shall include the singular unlessindicated otherwise.

The term “or combinations thereof” as used herein refers to allpermutations and/or combinations of the listed items preceding the term.For example, “A, B, C, or combinations thereof” is intended to includeat least one of: A, B, C, AB, AC, BC, or ABC, and if order is importantin a particular context, also BA, CA, CB, CBA, BCA, ACB, BAC, or CAB.Continuing with this example, expressly included are combinations thatcontain repeats of one or more item or term, such as BB, AAA, AAB, BBC,AAABCCCC, CBBAAA, CABABB, and so forth. The skilled artisan willunderstand that typically there is no limit on the number of items orterms in any combination, unless otherwise apparent from the context.

Finally, as used herein any reference to “one embodiment” or “anembodiment” means that a particular element, feature, structure, orcharacteristic described in connection with the embodiment is includedin at least one embodiment. The appearances of the phrase “in oneembodiment” in various places in the specification are not necessarilyreferring to the same embodiment, although the inventive conceptsdisclosed herein are intended to encompass all combinations andpermutations including one or more of the features of the embodimentsdescribed herein.

Referring now to the drawings, and more particularly to FIGS. 1-4, afirst embodiment of the shoelace fastening or locking apparatus of thepresent invention is shown and generally designated by the numeral 10.Apparatus 10 comprises a body 26 and a locking lever 28. Locking lever28 rotates between an open position (FIG. 3) and a locked position (FIG.4). Shoelace ends may be drawn through passages 30 and 32 between bodyends 36 and 42. Passage 32 includes a recess 38 in which the locking cam28 resides. In one embodiment, the passages 30 and 32 are parallel toone another.

The body 26 may be of a one-piece construction. In particular, but notby way of limitation, it is contemplated that body 26 could be easilymolded of a plastic material. However, other materials would work justas well. Also, body 26 could be formed of multiple pieces. The body 26is illustrated as having a generally parallelepiped configuration.However, the body 26 does not have to be any particular shape, and it iscontemplated that it can be molded into a variety of shapes to provideornamentation as a fashion statement or to provide a medium for placingadvertising thereon.

First passage 30 is an opening adapted for receiving first end 22 ofshoelace 12 therethrough. As illustrated in FIGS. 3-4, the body 26 isretained on the first end of the shoelace by tying a knot 34 in firstend 22 of shoelace 12 after passing the shoelace through first passage30 and knot 34 prevents the shoelace 12 from being pulled back throughdue to the engagement of the knot with a second end 42 of body 26. Thus,first passage 30 may be referred to as a retaining passage. The secondpassage 32 has a recess 38 and a lower surface 46. The lower surface 46defines at least a portion of the second passage 32 and is positioned inan opposing relationship to the recess 38.

Locking lever 28 is shown in a roughly flat ‘horse head’ shape definingan off-center hole 20 therethrough and forming a lever end 58 and abearing surface 60. The bearing surface 60 may be knurled or barbed.Locking lever 28 may be any shape that allows the bearing surface 60 tocompress or release portion 16 of the second end 24 of shoelace 12 byway of rotation of locking lever 28 about pin 22 through hole 20.

In the operation of apparatus 10, first end 22 of shoelace 12 isextended into passage 30 from an inlet end 36 through to an outlet end42 in body 26, and knot 34 is tied in the shoelace to attach and retainbody 26 to the shoelace. Second end 24 of shoelace 12 is passed intopassage 32 from an inlet end 42 through to an outlet end 36 of body 26.Locking lever 28 is movable about the pin 22 between the open position(FIG. 3) wherein the bearing surface 60 of the locking lever 28 isretracted away from the lower surface 46 of the body to permit passageof the shoelace 12 through the passage 32 and a locked position (FIG. 4)wherein the bearing surface 60 is disposed in the second passage 32 soas to compress the portion of the shoelace 12 disposed through thesecond passage 32 between the bearing surface 60 of the locking lever 28and the lower surface 46 of the body 26 to immobilize the portion of theshoelace 12 disposed through the second passage 32.

The force resulting from this compression, combined with the knurled orbarbed bearing surface 60, provides a high resistance to movement due tothe tension applied by the tightened shoelace 12. The force on the lever28 due to the tension in shoelace 12 serves to maintain the lockedposition of locking lever 28. To release second end 24 of shoelace 12,the lever end 58 of locking lever 28 is used to rotate the bearingsurface 60 away from the second end 24 of shoelace 12.

Referring now to FIG. 5, a second embodiment of the shoelace lockingapparatus of the present invention is shown and generally designated bythe numeral 210. As with the first embodiment apparatus 10, the secondembodiment apparatus 210 is adapted for use in releasably connectingfirst and second ends 22 and 24 of a shoelace 12. The apparatus 210 issimilar in construction to the apparatus 10 except that the apparatus210 includes a first locking lever 228 pivotally attached to a body 226with a pin 222 and a second locking lever 230 pivotally attached to thebody 226 with a pin 224. The first locking lever 228 is movable betweenan open position wherein the bearing surface of the locking lever 228 isretracted from passage 232 and a locked position wherein the bearingsurface is disposed in the passage 232 so as to compress the portion ofthe shoelace disposed through the passage 232 between the bearingsurface of the first locking lever 228 and the body and therebyimmobilize the portion of the shoelace disposed through the passage 232.Similarly, the second locking lever 230 is movable between an openposition wherein the bearing surface of the second locking lever 230 isretracted from passage 234 and a locked position wherein the bearingsurface is disposed in the passage 234 so as to compress the portion ofthe shoelace disposed through the passage 234 between the bearingsurface of the second locking lever 230 and the body 226 and therebyimmobilize the portion of the shoelace disposed through the passage 234.

Referring now to FIGS. 6-7, a third embodiment of a shoelace lockingapparatus of the present invention is shown and generally designated bythe numeral 110. As with the first embodiment apparatus 10, the thirdembodiment apparatus 110 is adapted for use in releasably connectingfirst and second ends 22 and 24 of a shoelace 12.

Apparatus 110 comprises a body 126, a pin 122, and a locking lever 128.Locking lever 128 is slidably attached to the body 126 such that thelocking lever 128 may be moved between the open and locked positions bysliding it on pin 122. Shoelace ends 22 and 24 may be drawn throughpassages 130 and 132 between body ends 136 and 142. Passage 132 includesrecess 138 in which the locking lever 128 resides.

Body 126 may be of a one-piece construction. In particular, but not byway of limitation, it is contemplated that body 126 could be easilymolded of a plastic material. However, other materials would work justas well. Also, body 26 could be formed of multiple pieces.

Body 126 is illustrated as having a generally parallelepipedconfiguration. However, body 126 does not have to be any particularshape, and it is contemplated that it can be molded into a variety ofshapes to provide ornamentation as a fashion statement or to provide amedium for placing advertising thereon. Regardless of the shape orconfiguration of body 126, the body 126 has a first passage or opening130 extending therethrough and a second passage or opening 132 extendingtherethrough.

First passage 130 is an opening adapted for receiving first end 22 ofshoelace 12 therethrough. By tying a knot 34 in first end 22 of shoelace12 after passing the shoelace through first passage 130, body 126 isretained on the first end of the shoelace, and knot 34 prevents theshoelace from being pulled back through because of the engagement of theknot with a second end 142 of body 126. Thus, first passage 130 may bereferred to as retaining passage 130.

Second passage 132 comprises a recess 138, and a lower surface 146. Therecess may also incorporate a detent bump 166. Second passage 32 isgenerally cylindrical. Locking lever 128 defines a slot 120therethrough, a handle end 158, a bearing surface 160, and a slidingsurface 164. Bearing surface 160 may be knurled or barbed. The lockinglever 128 may also incorporate a detent depression 162. The lockinglever 128 is moved into and out of engagement with second end 24 ofshoelace 12 by using handle end 158 to slide the locking lever 128 onpin 122. The slot 120 is at an acute angle with respect to bearingsurface 160 and sliding surface 164 so that sliding the locking lever128 in one direction causes bearing surface 160 to compress second end24 of shoelace 12, and sliding the locking lever 128 in the oppositedirection moves the bearing surface 160 out of contact with second end24 of shoelace 12. When in the locked position the tension in shoelace12 serves to maintain the sliding lever 128 in the locked position afterhandle 158 is released. Any detent bumps 166 incorporated into the bodyengage detent depressions 162 in the locking lever when in the lockedposition so as to maintain the sliding lever in the locked position inthe absence of tension in the shoelace.

To release the second end 24 of shoelace 12, the handle end 158 oflocking lever 128 is used to slide the bearing surface 160 away from thesecond end 24 of shoelace 12.

It will be seen, therefore, that the shoelace locking apparatus of thepresent invention is well adapted to carry out the ends and advantagesmentioned as well as those inherent therein. While exemplary embodimentsof the apparatus have been shown for the purposes of this disclosure,numerous changes in the arrangement and construction of parts may bemade by those skilled in the art. All such changes are encompassedwithin the scope and spirit of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A shoelace locking apparatus, comprising: a bodyhaving a first passage for receiving one portion of a shoelace, a secondpassage for receiving another portion of a shoelace, a recess incommunication with the second passage, and a lower surface defining atleast a portion of the second passage and positioned in an opposingrelationship to the recess, each of the first passage and the secondpassage having an inlet end and an outlet end; and a locking leverhaving at least one bearing surface, the locking lever positioned in therecess of the body and attached to the body in a way that the lockinglever is movable between an open position wherein the bearing surface ofthe locking lever is retracted away from the lower surface of the bodyto permit movement of the shoelace through the second passage and alocked position wherein the bearing surface is disposed in the secondpassage so as to compress the portion of the shoelace disposed throughthe second passage between the bearing surface of the locking lever andthe lower surface of the body to immobilize the portion of the shoelacedisposed through the second passage.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1,wherein locking lever is pivotally attached to the body, and wherein thelocking lever and the body are configured such that when the lockinglever is in the locked position with the portion of the shoelacecompressed, the net moment on the locking lever due to the compressionof the shoelace is zero.
 3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein thelocking lever is configured such that the locking lever is caused to bemaintained in the locked position in response to tension applied to theportion of the shoelace disposed through the second passage in adirection from the outlet end toward the inlet end.
 4. The apparatus ofclaim 3, wherein the locking lever is configured such that the lockinglever is caused to move from the locked position to the open position inresponse to application of a force on the locking lever to cause thebearing surface to rotate in a direction toward the outlet end.
 5. Theapparatus of claim 2, wherein the recess of the body is formed adjacentthe outlet end of the second passage, and wherein the locking lever isconfigured such that the locking lever is caused to move from the lockedposition to the open position in response to application of a force onthe locking lever to cause the bearing surface to rotate in a directiontoward the outlet end.
 6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the recesscommunicating with the second passage is a first recess and the lockinglever positioned in the first recess is a first locking lever, whereinthe body has a second recess in communication with the first passage,and wherein the apparatus further comprises: a second locking leverhaving at least one bearing surface, the second locking lever positionedin the second recess of the body and attached to the body in a way thatthe second locking lever is movable between an open position wherein thebearing surface of the locking lever is retracted from the first passageand a locked position wherein the bearing surface is disposed in thefirst passage so as to compress the portion of the shoelace disposedthrough the first passage between the bearing surface of the secondlocking lever and the body and thereby immobilize the portion of theshoelace disposed through the first passage.
 7. The apparatus of claim6, wherein the first passage and the second passage are in a parallelrelationship to one another, wherein the first recess of the body isformed adjacent the outlet end of the second passage and the secondrecess is formed adjacent the outlet end of the first passage, andwherein the inlet end of the first passage is adjacent the outlet end ofthe second passage.
 8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the body has apair of parallel sides.
 9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the lockinglever is slidably attached to the body.
 10. The apparatus of claim 9,wherein the recess of the body is formed adjacent the outlet end of thesecond passage, and wherein the locking lever is configured such thatthe locking lever is caused to be maintained in the locked position inresponse to tension applied to the portion of the shoelace disposedthrough the second passage in a direction from the outlet end toward theinlet end.
 11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the locking lever isconfigured such that the locking lever is caused to move from the lockedposition to the open position in response to application of a force onthe locking lever to cause the bearing surface to rotate in a directiontoward the outlet end.
 12. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the recessof the body is formed adjacent the outlet end of the second passage, andwherein the locking lever is configured such that the locking lever iscaused to move from the locked position to the open position in responseto application of a force on the locking lever to cause the bearingsurface to rotate in a direction toward the outlet end.
 13. Theapparatus of claim 9, wherein the locking lever engages the body in thelocked position.